Hello, my pretties!

This is the revised version of Chapter 2! There have been major changes referring to story flow.

I basically scraped anything after the first half of chapter one and started over.

Enjoy!

Memories

The next morning, Zuko walked quickly to the informal dinning hall in hopes to catch Sokka before he started eating. He wanted to ask him about his sister's odd behavior.

As he strode into the room, he let out a sigh of relief to see that Sokka had yet to arrive. Now he could stop him from eating before he had the chance to speak. Because once Sokka started to eat, it was hard to get him to do anything else until he was finished.

Zuko stood at the doorway to the dinning hall and greeted each of his guests as they entered. He noticed that Aang and Toph had entered together, and he also noticed that Katara had not shown up at all. Once again, worry began to fill him at the thought of his distraught friend. He almost didn't notice Suki and Sokka entering the room. Zuko was able to grab Sokka's arm before he sat down and pulled him into the hallway.

"Hey! What's the big idea? I was just about to eat!" Sokka exclaimed as he was drawn into an empty room just down the hall from the mouth-watering food.

"I need to talk to you." Zuko stated as he continued his hold on the warrior to keep him from bolting.

"What about?" Sokka said as he quit struggling. If his friend needed his advice, he was glad to give it.

"It's about Katara... Have you noticed Katara has been acting strange lately?" Zuko asked worriedly.

"Oh, that." Sokka said forlornly. "It hasn't just been lately, ever since she came back home almost a year ago, she's been acting weird."

"Came back? What do you mean? Like back to the South Pole after traveling with Aang?"

"No, after she disappeared about three years ago. When she and Aang broke up, she disappeared, we didn't know where she went, then about 10 months ago she reappeared in the South Pole. She was in bad shape too..."

"Wait, she came hear about three years ago and stayed with me for a month before she said she was going to go home... I just assumed she did." He was disappointed in himself for not taking her there personally.

"Hey, don't worry about it... She told us she went to the North Pole, but she never told us what happened to make her so sad and depressed. After awhile we stopped asking and she seemed to get back to her old self again. I guess we just got used to seeing her like this that we didn't think you would notice. I can't remember the last time Katara spoke to me... Or laughed. She smiles every once in a while and I think having Toph and Aang around helps more. She just won't talk to anyone... Why do you ask?"

"Remember that man who came to the city and demanded to see me?" Zuko asked.

"The one Toph was going to beat up and the one you left to see during dinner?"

"Yeah. Well his name is Kuruk, and he's from the Northern Water tribe... He asked to see Katara, that he was her 'friend.' And when I brought it up to Katara last night, she started crying and asked me why I was throwing him in prison... I was just hoping you might know why she acted the way she did. Do you know him?"

"Hmmm. No, I don't but if the mention of him made Katara cry in front of you, she must be pretty upset. I should go check on her." Sokka said sadly as he turned to walk out the door. Zuko grabbed his arm to stop him.

"If she hasn't told you anything in almost a year, why would she tell you now? Maybe I should go see if she'll talk to me." Zuko insisted.

"Why would she talk to you? She hasn't seen you in three years." Sokka protested. He wanted to be the one to comfort his baby sister.

"She came to me when she and Aang broke up, she might even feel a little guilty for lying to me about going home and also for not writing to me like she promised." Zuko argued, his hand tightening around Sokka's upper arm.

Wincing at the pain in the firebender's grip, Sokka gave up. "Fine. Go make sure she's okay. But if she doesn't come out of her room by lunchtime, it's my turn." He narrowed his eyes at the young Fire Lord and ripped his arm out of his slackened grip. He stormed out of the door and back toward his glorious food. Once the savory smell of Platypus-bear eggs filled his nose, all his troubles were gone.

Katara woke to the sun shining through her window. She hummed at the warmth it gave her and she turned to face the window. With the sun in her eyes, the reality of her life hit her like one of Toph's rocks and the tears began to pool around her eyes. She closed them to prevent them from spilling, but it had failed. She could see him now. He was smiling that brilliant smile at her. They were in the public training field at the Norther Water Tribe. She smiled at the memory. Feeling some of her old self again, she tried to remember more.

He had just finished sparring with some of the soldiers when she walked onto the field to greet him. He gave her a peck on the cheek and wrapped his strong arms around her. He was everything her father wanted her to have. He was Water Tribe. An officer in their navy. He was the perfect warrior, commanding respect everywhere he went, but he was humble and knew what was important in life.

And he repeatedly let her know that she was the most important thing in his life. She blushed furiously at every compliment he'd ever given her, that is, after he won her affections. It was a struggle to win her over, but he eventually won her heart. They met in the infirmary. He had intensive battle wounds from the war and she was the new nurse. And acclaimed war hero. How could he not fall for her?

She would refuse his gifts, every compliment was laughed at and she had asked many times where he learned to pick up women. He never gave up though and once he was completely healed, that's when she had noticed she felt something for the soldier. And just when she thought she would never see him again, she ran into him at the training field.

That's when their relationship started. They fell in love quickly, and when that happened she moved from Yugoda's house to his house. It was scandalous and the talk of the city, but it didn't phase them. After just five months together, he proposed and she happily accepted.

Her hand had slid to the pocket of her nightgown. She had taken her most prized possession out of the confines of her pack last night and wept over it before tucking it safely into her pocket. She felt the ribbon's silkiness dance over fingertips as she pulled the object from her nightgown. Once it was free from it's hidden place she brought it to her lips and kissed the cool, smooth stone. The stone that was so warm when it was around her neck. The same stone was once full of life was now cold and empty.

She brought the necklace from her lips to dangle in front of her eyes and she marveled at it's beauty. The dark blue stone held faint shape of a wave and the light blue ribbon contrasted beautifully against the stone. She quickly flipped the stone over to the back where an inscription read, "I'll be with you always, even to ends of the world."

"LIAR!" She screamed at the stone and threw it across the room. "You lied... You're not here with me..." She finished in a sob.

Once her crying slowed to the sniffles, she got out of her bed and walked over to where she threw her necklace. She felt guilty for getting mad at the one material thing she had left of him. She picked it up, but couldn't stand to look at it anymore. So much grief and anger swelled inside her. She laid it neatly on the windowsill and curled up in the chair that faced the window. She stared straight ahead and drifted off to a world before she knew him.

Zuko knocked three times and announced his presence before opening the door to Katara's room. Once inside, he shut the door quietly looked around the room. Katara was curled up in a chair by the window, looking out towards the city that spread beyond the palace walls.

He made his way slowly to her, wondering if she heard him knock or could even hear him approach. She seemed to be lost in her own world. When he was beside her he knelt down so he could be eye level with her. He saw her tear-stained cheeks and her red eyes. Her lips were dry and cracked. He reached out and laid his hand gently on her arm.

"Katara?"

She seemed to come to life at his voice. She quickly wiped her entire face with the sleeve of her nightgown and sniffled repeatedly before looking at him.

"Katrara... Are you okay? You didn't come to breakfast." he asked softly.

She nodded furiously as though if she did it enough, she wouldn't have to use her voice that betrayed her so easily.

When she said nothing, Zuko sighed and began rubbing his thumb in circles over her arm. Then when she seemed to relax a little under his touch, he tried again.

"Katara, what's wrong? Talk to me please. I want to know what is bothering you so much..." His voice was still patient and understanding, but if she didn't cooperate soon, he would have to try more forceful tactics.

She shook her head violently as tears spilled from her eyes. Her breathing became more labored as sobs broke through the lips she tried to keep shut. He let her cry a little before scooping her up in his arms like he did so many years ago, and sat her in his lap as he sat in the chair.

He stroked her hair and her crying slowed she relaxed into him and buried her head into his strong chest. He tried to get her to open up to him like she once did. "Katara, please talk to me. I'm your friend. Whatever it is, you can tell me. That's why I'm here..."

She leaned away from his warm, comforting body and once her hyperventilating subsided, she spoke in a broken whisper. "I c-can't. It hurts t-too much."

"What hurts? Did Kuruk hurt you? Is that what this is all about?" He asked gently, trying to coax an answer out of her.

"What? No! Kuruk would never hurt me!" She protested. "Kuruk is my friend... He's my... my-" Her sentence broke off with a strangled cry then more sobs. She slammed her head into the nook of his neck and let the tears fall onto his shirt. He stroked her hair and her back, telling her it was okay, that she could tell him anything.

"Katara... Who is Kuruk to you? You said he was your friend, but he's more than that, isn't he?" He inquired trying to figure out what this Kuruk guy had to do with anything. Maybe he was her boyfriend and they had a bad break-up. Or maybe he was just a friend and she was just trying to tell him that.

She sat up straight in his lap and turned her head to look out the window again. Once her breathing returned to normal, she spoke to him, but her eyes were fixed on the necklace on the windowsill. "He's my... Kuruk is my...I can't say it. I just can't, Zuko. Not just yet. It hurts too much." She finished in low whisper.

Zuko's heart fluttered for a millisecond when she said his name. But it was over and he need to comfort the broken girl in his arms. He stood up, holding her tightly to his chest and carried her to the bed. He laid her down gently as she tried not to sob into his shoulder. He tucked her in and brushed his lips lightly over her forehead before turning to let her be. But at the last second she grabbed his arm and looked up at him with her big blue eyes.

"Please don't leave me alone..." She whispered to him. He smiled briefly before removing his shoes and climbing on to the bed with her. He sat next to where she lay and hummed a Fire Nation lulaby. All the while keeping his is fixed on the necklace decorating her windowsill.

"Where are Katara and Zuko?" Aang asked as they were finishing breakfast.

Sokka looked up to see everyone's expectant eyes looking back at him. He swallowed his last bit of food before telling them. "Katara is going through another depressive mood. Zuko's trying to talk her through it." He explained quietly.

"Do you know what set her off this time?" Suki asked. She was worried for her friend and soon to be sister-in-law, but whenever she tried to comfort her, Katara would just get worse and say she couldn't possibly understand.

"The guy who came and terrorized the city during dinner. He claimed to be one of Katara's friends, and when she heard he was here, she broke down."

"Oh..." Suki replied, unsure how the pieces fit together. All this time she thought Katara was upset because of the things she saw while she was a healer in the North Pole, but now she wasn't so sure. Unless this guy was one of her old patients or something. Everything was getting confusing and her head hurt form making conclusions out such little information. She wanted to give up, but she also knew she couldn't give up on her friend.

Breakfast ended in silence as the group went their separate ways. Each with a different task to occupy their day.

I know it's a little short, but I didn't want to add unnecessary things just to make it longer. Anyay, hope you liked it!

PLEASE REVIEW! :)

This chapter has been revised. 5/16/2011. I hoped you enjoyed it. :)